Pete
Fiutak
Q: Right now, do
you rank the Mountain West over the Pac 10?
A:
I'd call it dead-even.
I know BYU had to work way too hard to beat Washington, probably the No.
8 team in the Pac 10, but that seemed more like an aberration. USC is
better than anyone in the Mountain West, but after the Pac 10 lost yet
another big game against a non-BCS league, with Oregon losing to Boise
State, it's not like anyone else is stepping up to show much.
I think Cal is better than BYU, Utah and TCU, but in a head-to-head with
all three, the Bears would lose one of those games. What else is there
for the Pac 10 to hang its hat on? Yes, the 0-5 record against the
Mountain West matters, and so do games like Utah over Michigan and
Colorado State over a high-powered Houston.
Alright, so Wyoming, San Diego State, Colorado State and now, without QB
Donovan Porterie, the bottom half of the Mountain West isn't anything
special, UNLV's win over Arizona State and New Mexico's win over Arizona
were huge for the league.
However, the Pac 10 has had its moments. UCLA might look awful now, but
it did beat Tennessee. Cal's win over Michigan State was nice, Oregon
showed heart in the comeback over Purdue, and of course you have to
throw USC's win over Ohio State into the equation.
Eventually the Pac 10 should be better, but right now, that 0-5 Mountain
West matzo ball is hanging out there, and it won't go away.
Richard
Cirminiello
Q: Right now, do
you rank the Mountain West over the Pac 10?
A:
While it’s tempting to do so, especially after what happened two weeks
ago between the two leagues, I’m not quite ready to declare the Mountain
West the better conference. The Pac-10, for all of its problems this
month, still has more depth in terms of personnel and members. I realize
this theory is being tested in 2008, but I’ll still take Washington over
San Diego State and a healthy Oregon over TCU. Oh, and don’t
underestimate the power of Troy. It ought to count for something that
the Pac-10 houses the nation’s top-rated team, right? The Mountain
West’s superiority over the Pac-10 this fall has been a wee bit
overhyped, considering USC hasn’t had a crack at BYU, Utah, or TCU. The
Mountain West and its members deserve all of the pub they’ve been
getting over the last couple of weeks for outplaying bigger schools and
overshooting expectations. If this was annual head-to-head tournament,
it would already be putting the hardware in Craig Thompson’s trophy
case. One month, however, isn’t enough of a sampling to give the league
the nod over the Pac-10. Although the gap between the two is a whole lot
closer than any of us could have imagined in August.
Matthew
Zemek
Q: Right now, do
you rank the Mountain West over the Pac 10?
A:
Yes. Not just because of the head-to-head wins (New Mexico over
Arizona, TCU over Stanford, BYU over UCLA, BYU over Washington, UNLV
over Arizona State), but because some of those head-to-heads
involved lower- or middle-division MWC teams beating middle- or
upper-division Pac-10 teams.
Sometimes, the low end of one conference proves to be superior to
the low end of another conference. But in the case of the Mountain
West and the Pac-10, some of this season's results (not all, but at
least some) indicate that the MWC's lower-tier clubs can beat
middle-tier teams from the Pac. That's alarming... and also the best
justification for ranking the Mountain West higher at this point in
time.
Steve Silverman
Q: Right now, do
you rank the Mountain West over the Pac 10?
A:
At first, this seems like a question designed to get a
knee-jerk reaction like, “Of course the Mountain West is
better than the Pac-10. Look at what happened two weeks ago.
The Mountain West was 4-0 vs. the Pac-10. Brigham Young 59,
UCLA 0. Need I say more?”
Or perhaps
the Pac-10 people might say something like: “Yes, you had a
couple of good weeks in September. Come talk to me in
January when USC is playing for the national championship
and Oregon is playing on New Year’s Day. Talk to me then.”
But
instead of getting our noses out of joint, we will look at
the situation as objectively as possible. The Mountain West
has some good teams in Tulsa, UNLV and Utah and a
potentially great team in Brigham Young. In the Pac-10, Cal,
Arizona and Oregon should be competitive all season long.
Oregon has an excellent chance to play on New Year’s Day.
And then there’s USC. Pete Carroll’s team is once again a
juggernaut. Mark Sanchez is a top quarterback and the
Trojans have a defense to be reckoned with. As the season
moves along, the Trojans will get better.
Even the
most ardent Mountain West rooter would have to give an
objective nod to USC. Say Brigham Young continues to roll
the rest of the year and managed to go undefeated. And the
SEC and Big 12 cooperated by having their best teams lose
once or twice. Would the Cougars really want any part of the
Trojans in the National Championship game? I think not.
I’m not
talking about what they would say publicly and how they
might bluster in front of the cameras and their fans. But
when the players and coaches are alone with their thoughts,
Brigham Young wants nothing to do with USC.
So in a
very round-about and long-winded way, the Mountain West is
simply not in the same class as the Pac-10. Put the best
from each conference on the field and it would be a route.